Synopsis
Little Otik (Otesánek, 2001) is a Czech horror-comedy you can watch online on iFILM, directed by surrealist Jan Švankmajer. A childless couple's longing for a baby turns monstrous when a tree stump comes to life.
Karel digs up a root in the garden, whittles it into the rough shape of an infant, and hands it to his wife Božena as a grim joke. She refuses to treat it as anything but her son. Then the wooden thing opens its mouth. Otík grows fast and eats everything within reach — porridge, the cat, the mailman — while a sharp neighbor girl, Alžbětka, is the only one who reads the old fairy tale and sees where this is heading.
Švankmajer, the mind behind Alice and Faust, mixes live action with his trademark stop-motion, making food, wood and household objects twitch with unsettling life. The story comes from a Czech folk tale by Karel Jaromír Erben about a ravenous living log. It is funny and stomach-turning in the same breath, built for viewers who like their arthouse strange. Stream Little Otik (2001) online on iFILM.
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